Date: 4/6/25 10:59 am From: Lisa Dziuban <dziubanlisa...> Subject: Bird calls-Plumstead Twp., Bucks Co.
I know we all hear bird calls and songs, sometimes unconsciously. This morning, during a pea soup fog, I was consciously listening to one of my favorite songs, that of the white throated sparrow. Later, still inside and sewing, I became slightly aware of a constant twittering of birds. It kept up for several minutes. When you’ve heard a bird call for years it sometimes becomes so commonplace that is doesn’t register as to what you are actually hearing. It finally dawned on me that what I was hearing were barn swallows. My records indicate that last year they arrived on April 17. I went outside to investigate but didn’t see any and heard only the white throats, a bluejay, a cardinal and the song sparrows. Mystery. For all I know it could have been the house sparrows I was hearing. But now I will be consciously listening for the barn swallows.
I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my latest find in the world of bird books. I know this Listserv is concerned with the birds of Pennsylvania but I must mention the extraordinary tome, Birds Of Essex County, Massachusetts: A Personal Journey, by James Berry. This is a two volume set, softcover, as an update to the earlier by Charles Wendell Townsend (1905). Each volume is approximately 400 pages. The author gives the history for 450+ species with personal accounts that are in the same vein as Arthur Cleveland Bent. Meticulously researched with notes from Brewster, Forbush, Griscom and contemporary ornithologists it is a delight to read.
Lisa Dziuban
“People aren’t longing to be impressed; they’re longing to feel like they’re home. If you create a space full of love and character and creativity and soul, they’ll take off their shoes and curl up with gratitude and rest, no matter how small, no matter how undone, no matter how odd.”
Shauna Niequist
